Thursday, July 26, 2012

How to Make Delicious Hot Coffee

Millions of people make coffee in their kitchens every morning and have done so for decades. A good cup of coffee is a hot commodity. You can make the trek to your favorite coffee shop or you can learn how to make a great cup of coffee right at home. Although the type of coffee pot you own makes a difference in how your coffee tastes, you don't need an expensive, gourmet coffee pot. Get what you can afford. Good coffee is decided by an array of other factors you can control.

How to Make Delicious Hot Coffee:

* Clean your coffee pot thoroughly. This may seem elementary, but it's easy to get lazy and only rinse your coffee pot after each brew without truly cleaning it. Residue can burn and heavily affect the taste of your coffee.

* Purchase freshly roasted beans and store them properly. Try to get your beans as soon as possible after they've been roasted and buy only what you need for a week or two. When storing your beans, put them in an air-tight container. If you don't have an air-tight container, seal them in a freezer bag and store them in the freezer.

* Grind only what you will use to keep the rest of your beans fresh until you're ready for them. If your grinder let's you, shake the grinds a little to even them out for a more even cut to avoid powdery grinds.

* Pour cold, filtered water into your pot in the measure that you need. The quality of the water you use is important. Different factors, such as minerals and pollutants, can cause water to taste bad and affect the taste of your coffee.

* Insert a non-bleached coffee filter into your machine if it needs one, then put the proper measure of coffee in it. Some machines have built-in coffee filters, but if your machine does not, avoid bleached filters. The brown or gold filters don't have dyes and other chemicals that can come out in the coffee. Professional tasters use about 2 tbsp. of coffee for every 6 oz. of water.

* Turn on the machine. When the brew is complete, drink your coffee immediately. Coffee starts losing its flavor minutes after it's brewed, so if you don't drink it immediately, store it in an insulated container to preserve the flavor.

# If your coffee is too strong, adjust the grind. A coarser grind will make weaker coffee.